Elon Musk Turns 50: 5 Facts About the Africa-Born Billionaire

• Billionaire Elon Musk just celebrated his 50th Birthday on the 28th of June 2021
• To commemorate the occasion, Briefly News compiled a few fun facts about the space enthusiast, car developer, and legendary entrepreneur which you definitely won't want to miss

Elon Musk has just celebrated his 50th Birthday. The ageing billionaire got his start as the co-founder of the electronic payment service, PayPal but there may be a few facts you did not know about the successful entrepreneur.

YEN.com.gh compiled a few lesser-known facts about the South African born Silicon Valley giant. Here are 5 interesting facts you may not have known about Elon Musk:

5 Fun facts about SA born billionaire, Elon Musk

1. Musk was born right here in Mzansi. The 50-year-old came into the world on June 28, 1971 in the city of Pretoria. He's the son of a South African father and Canadian mother who eventually all emigrated to her home country.
2. A young Musk definitely displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurial skills. At just 12-years old the Tesla CEO developed a video game and sold it to a computer magazine.
3. Musk left South Africa in 1988, strongly disagreeing with the then apartheid system that required all white-males to join the military. The Musk family also sought greater economic opportunities available in North America.
4. Before making a name for himself as the founder of Tesla and Space X, the CEO founded an electronic payment service called X.com. The pioneering app specialized in transferring money online. The company would later be named PayPal and in 2002, sold for $1.5 billion.
5. Musk remains convinced that for humanity to survive we have to become a multiplanet species. It's one of the founding ideas at the forefront of his space rocket manufacturer, SpaceX. The billionaire certainly still has big plans for space exploration.

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New frontiers: Jeff Bezos set to become 1st billionaire to travel to space

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh previously reported that in what will be a dream come true, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be flying to space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company, Blue Origin.

According to CNN, the flight is scheduled for Tuesday, July 20. Blue Origin said Bezos' younger brother, Mark Bezos, will also join the flight. The Amazon boss was quoted to have said:

"Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend."

With this, he would be the first of the billionaire space tycoons to experience a ride aboard the rocket technology, NBC News added.

"I got the contract"

In another development, the second richest man in the world, Elon Musk, trolled Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, after their space companies went head-to-head for a NASA contract recently.

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The contract had been given to Musk's Space X, and Bezos wasn't happy that his Blue Origin firm lost the bid. The number one billionaire wrote in protest to the Government Accountability Office, seeking a review.

Both companies had battled for a Human Landing System Program. Initially, Space X and Blue Origin were both meant to jointly handle the $2.9 billion contract, but financial constraints affected the plan and one bidder had to be chosen.

Source: YEN.com.gh